A device for recording information on a storage medium (11) is arranged for formatting the storage medium. The device has receives a format command according to a protocol (ATA/ATAPI). The device has formatting means for formatting a multilayer storage medium according to the format command. The formatting includes recording, on each layer (L0, L1) of the multilayer storage medium, a first control zone (71, 72) at a first radial position on the layer and a second control zone (73, 74) at a second radial position on the layer for forming an annular data zone of a selected size between the control zones. If the format size is smaller than a maximum available size on the storage medium, the control zones are positioned on substantially equal radial positions for forming radially corresponding annular data zones (75, 76). The required format size equals the sum of the selected sizes of each annular data zone.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A device for recording information on a multilayer optical storage medium, the device comprising: scanning means for scanning the multilayer optical storage medium for recording and retrieving data on a recording layer of the multilayer optical storage medium, said medium being in an unformatted state, interface means for receiving commands according to a protocol, the commands including a format command, and formatting means for formatting the multilayer optical storage medium according to the format command, the format command including a size parameter indicative of a format size, the formatting means: formatting the multilayer optical storage medium by recording, on each layer of the multilayer storage medium, a first control zone at a first radial position and a second control zone at a second radial position thereby forming an annular data zone between corresponding control zones, said annular data zone having a selected size, and positioning on each of the layers corresponding first and second control zones on substantially equal first and second radial positions forming corresponding annular data zones, wherein the radial positions of said first and second control zones are determined based on said selected size of a corresponding annular data zone, wherein the first control zones of each of the layers is written prior to writing said second control zones and the format size equals a sum of the sizes of each of the annular data zones.
2. The device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the formatting means are arranged for determining a number of layers (NL) of the multilayer storage medium, and for determining the selected size by dividing the size parameter by the number of layers (NL).
3. The device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the formatting means are arranged for retrieving a number of blocks (NB) from the format command as the size parameter, for determining the selected size by setting the selected size equal to the number of blocks (NB).
5. The device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the scanning means are arranged for recording data on a multilayer optical record carrier of a rewritable type.
6. The device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the device comprises a host system, and the interface means are arranged for receiving the commands from the host system.
7. The device as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the device is a video recorder device and the host system comprises video processing means.
8. A method of formatting an unformatted multilayer optical storage medium for recording data and retrieving data, the method comprising: receiving commands according to a protocol, the commands including a format command, and formatting the storage medium according to the format command, the format command including a size parameter indicative of a format size, the formatting comprising: recording, on each layer of the multilayer storage medium, a first control zone at a first radial position and a second control zone at a second radial position thereby forming an annular data zone of a selected size between the first and second control zones, positioning on each of the layers corresponding first and second control zones on substantially equal first and second radial positions for forming corresponding annular data zones of said selected size, wherein the first control zones of each of the layers is written prior writing said second control zones and the format size equals a sum of the sizes of each of the annular data zones.
9. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory tangible medium for formatting an unformatted multilayer optical storage medium for recording data thereon and retrieving data therefrom, said program being operative to cause a processor to perform the steps of: receiving commands according to a protocol, the commands including a format command, and formatting the storage medium according to the format command, the format command including a size parameter indicative of a format size, the formatting including, in the event of a multilayer storage medium, recording, on each layer of the multilayer storage medium, a first control zone at a first radial position on the layer and a second control zone at a second radial position thereby forming an annular data zone of a selected size between the control zones, and, positioning on each of the layers corresponding first and second control zones on substantially equal first and second radial positions, wherein the first control zones of each of the layers is written prior to writing said second control zones and the format size equals a sum of the sizes of each of the annular data zones.
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December 1, 2006
March 12, 2013
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